Leak

Images of the much rumoured Google X Phone appear to have leaked online. A Motorola-branded device surfaced on the Twitter account of tech tipster @evleaks.

Rumours surrounding a Google-developed device have heated up over recent months, following the web giant’s acquisition of Motorola in 2011.

IGN reports that a job vacancy related to the project appeared on Linkedin for a brief period before it was quickly removed in January, fueling initial speculation that the ‘X Phone’ could be coming soon.

Similar images were also leaked in March by Vietnamese website Tinhte.vn, but neither Google nor Motorola have even confirmed the existence of such a phone.

Google’s I/O conference takes place in San Francisco on May 13, when the company could shed some light on the ‘X phone’.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 smartphone’s specs have been leaked online on a benchmarking website. It is touted as a budget-friendly addition to the Galaxy range, the handset will be powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM and run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Other features include an 800 x 480 display, a 5-megapixel camera capable of shooting 720p video footage, and NFC support, according to information on GLBenchmark. The device will replace the existing Galaxy Ace 2, offering a speedier processor and RAM upgrade but retaining the same camera capabilities.

Microsoft’s Windows Blue operating system has leaked online as an early build, hinting at new features for the upcoming Windows 8 update.

The leak comes from an early version called build 9364 of Windows Blue, and was spotted on the Polish Winforum site by The Verge.

Build 9364 shows new customisation options, including both smaller and larger Live Tile sizes and greater colour personalisation.

It also introduces a 50-50 screen split for the app snapping feature, where the screen is split evenly between two apps.

There are also allegedly updates to the settings menus, providing more robust settings so that tablet users do not have to enter the desktop mode to adjust system settings.

Other changes include new Windows 8-style apps for a calculator, sound recorder and alarm. There are also new ‘play’ and screenshot options in the Charm menu. An icon for Internet Explorer 11 also appeared in the leaked build, though no other details about the new browser were revealed.

Microsoft is understood to be planning to shift Windows to more regular updates than the current three-year cycle of new releases, such as with Windows 7 in 2009 to Windows 8 last year. Previous reports have said that Windows Blue would launch in mid-2013, but the names Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 will most likely remain in use, as Blue is thought to be an internal branding.

Microsoft has some major changes in store for Windows Phone 8, we’ve learned, which is the version of the platform currently being referred to by codename “Apollo” (the one scheduled for deployment after the upcoming Tango update). Thanks to a video hosted by senior vice president and Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore, and intended for partners at Nokia, a number of WP8 features and themes have now been revealed.

Hardware changes
According to Belfiore, the overarching theme with regards to the Windows Phone 8 hardware ecosystem will be scale and choice. Specifically, Apollo will add support for multicore processors, new screen resolutions (a total of four, although actual pixel counts weren’t specified), and removable microSD card storage. It’s clear that Microsoft is addressing one of the platform’s pain points, which is a perceived inability to compete in spec sheet comparisons with the iPhone and Android-based devices.

NFC radios will also be supported, with Belfiore placing specific emphasis on 8’s push into contactless payments. The “Wallet experience,” as he calls it, will have to capability to be carrier-branded and controlled, either by a secure element on the SIM card or utilizing hardware in the phone itself. In addition, tap-to-share capabilities will reportedly work across multiple platforms, allowing desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones to all share content.

Windows 8 integration
Windows Phone 8 won’t just share a UI with the next-generation desktop and tablet OS, apparently: it will use many of the same components as Windows 8, allowing developers to “reuse — by far — most of their code” when porting an app from desktop to phone, according to Belfiore. He specifically mentions the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia support as areas of heavy overlap.

Moreover, Windows Phone 8 will reportedly scrap integration with the desktop Zune client in favor of a syncing relationship with a dedicated companion application. In other words, Microsoft is bringing back a (presumably) richer version of ActiveSync after letting that program die out for the most part.

The Xbox Companion app, currently found on Windows Phones, will see a partner client on Windows 8. Skydrive support promises seamless sharing of data between devices; Belfiore gives the example of instantly having one’s music collection available on a newly-purchased Windows Phone, without the need for a PC sync.

It sounds like the tagline for this so-called Windows 2012 relaunch, or “Windows reimagined,” will be “The New Familiar.”

Application ecosystem
Microsoft expects 100,000 apps to be in the Marketplace (tipped for imminent worldwide availability) at the launch of Windows Phone 8 — rumored by WMPoweruser as happening sometime in the fourth quarter. The biggest news on the app front is probably the addition of native code support, which will enable more powerful applications as well as ease the porting of code from programs initially developed for iOS or Android.

Also mentioned is support for app-to-app communication, as well as a revamped Skype client that hooks directly into the OS, letting Skype calls behave almost identically to regular, non-VoIP telephony. The camera will now be based around so-called lens apps: Microsoft provides a basic camera interface that can either be skinned by OEMs or overlaid with viewfinders from third-parties. Belfiore gives the example of a lens app that combines burst mode with smile detection to capture a perfect portrait shot.

Data management
One of the main highlights of the overview was a feature called DataSmart, which aims to reduce, and simplify the tracking of, data usage. Besides providing a breakdown of data consumption, as other platforms already do, Windows Phone 8 will actively attempt to give Wi-Fi connections precedence, going so far as to automatically connect to carrier-owned WLANs when in range. To that end, the Local Scout feature of Bing Maps will enable the real-time location of nearby hotspots. Data usage will also be made glanceable thanks to a live tile.

Perhaps most interesting is Windows Phone 8’s planned use of a proxy server to feed pages to Internet Explorer 10. Like Opera Mini and the Skyfire of old, this service uses server-side compression to reduce the amount of data required to view websites — in this case, by a claimed 30%.

Business support
In an attempt to recapture the enterprise, Windows Phone 8 is said to add native BitLocker encryption — the same 128-bit, full-disk encryption found on Microsoft most recent desktop platforms. So-called “line-of-business” applications are also gaining support, allowing businesses to deploy proprietary, tailored software behind their company firewalls.

Overall, we’re looking at a lot of changes and additions here, all of which seem designed to either bring Windows Phone in line with other platforms, feature-wise, or make it more closely identical to the desktop version of Windows. It’s probably safe to say that the jump from Mango/Tango to Apollo will be nearly as significant as the transition from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone, and this preview certainly gives us a lot to look forward to.

Over the last week a number of websites and blogs have been talking about the leaked build of the next version of Windows Home Server, codenamed Vail.

Basically, an internal build of Vail has managed to leak onto the Internet.

We here at Using Windows Home Server, along with a number of the other WHS sites, such as We Got Served, have had lots of emails from people wanting to know more about Vail, or wanting us to post links, pictures, etc.

I’ve been going back and forth over the last few days trying to decided what, if anything to say about all this.

As a Windows Home Server MVP, I am under an NDA which means I am unable to talk about products that are not out yet (depending on what Microsoft have already released information wise to the public) and I am also asked not to talk about certain things when information leaks – and this is one of those times.

Terry over at We Got Served did a post last night that sums up our position perfectly – nice one Terry!

So, to sum up, until such time as Microsoft release public information about Vail, I cannot, and will not, be able to talk about it. That isn’t to say I don’t know anything about Vail, but I am under NDA and so cannot talk about it.

And a warning to all those who are downloading this leaked build – be careful what you are downloading, torrents are often filled with spyware, trojans and viruses.

So why not wait until Microsoft release an official test build at some point in the future?

When information is released about Vail you can rest assured we WILL be talking about it!

If you want to talk about this you can do so in our forums, but please do not post screenshots or links to download sites or we will have to remove them